Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts Jenny and Chris. We really appreciate it! I went out to the house to take a few pictures and the doors are currently framed at 6'8". The plan is to move them to 8' this week. That's probably part of the reason that we're having such a hard time picturing the final product because the disparity between the top of the door and top of the window is so great. If we move the doors to 8" we can't put a transom above the door because it will be too small (header is at 9', so you'd have a very small transom). The exterior elevation (below) has the windows and doors at 8', which is probably what we should do. But there's a part of us that thinks we might regret not putting transoms above all of the windows and doors on the backside of the house. Rear Elevation (due to code, county wouldn't let us put a garage door in the basement even though its a games room). Framing in progress (garage door replaced with double french doors in the basement. still need to cut away the sheathing as it appears we're missing a window and door on the basement level). View from rooms at the back of the house.

Yeah, you definitely don't want to use standard exterior transom windows for an interior location. Nowadays, almost all manufactured windows are designed to limit heat transfer between the interior and the exterior of your home... i.e., double or triple-paned low-E glass with xenon or some other inert gas permanently sealed between the panes, etc. In general, that is a good thing but for an INTERIOR window where you're not worried about heat transfer from one room to another, why pay for all that technology? mydreamhome is right, have your framers frame up an extra tall opening and your trim guy can make these happen. It is pretty simple to do. No way it should cost you anything close to what a premade (manufactured) transom window would cost. If you want the clarity of real glass instead of plexi-glass tho, be sure and pay the extra few dollars to get tempered glass panes instead of plain glass. When tempered glass is broken, it crumbles into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards. Codes require that glass within 18 inches of a doorway be tempered glass. A transom over the doorway definitely falls within that 18inch range but your trim guy may not know about the codes since he doesn't generally deal with glass.

Just checked out the company above, and they have a 12x32 for $70. I'd check with a local millwork place for a competitive bid, that way no shipping fees. By the way, when I was house-hunting, all the interior transoms I saw, and ones in friends' houses, were plain glass for interiors--only exterior transoms had muntins or stained glass. My own transom over the front door is stained, an art nouveau pattern--while that over the back door is plain. The front one matches my sidelight.

cnsbh, Interesting questions... Sound Transmission Class or STC is used to rate sound transmission through building assemblies - the higher the number the better at blocking sound. A standard wooden stud wall (1/2" sheetrock / 2x4 studs / 1/2" sheetrock) will have an STC rating in the neighborhood of 30. A single sheet of 1/4" laminated glass has a rated STC of 35. In other words, the laminated glass alone surpasses the sound blocking ability of the wall - no need for the extras. The doors will pass even more sound than will the glass or the wall. Are these going to be clear transoms? Bendheim offers a huge number of really interesting laminated products that have decorative paper between the layers of glass - within the laminate - as well as laminates made with patterned glass. If you are looking for more decorative transoms, they might be something to consider. Good luck!